Dear Roy,
I agree that our last meeting was "cordial ... and pleasant." "Fruitful"? I'm not so sure about that. At least it didn't seem any more fruitful than this recent exchange has been so far.
I won’t hide the fact that I like you and enjoy your company. You're a nice guy and I've never had anything other than cordial and pleasant conversations with you -- interesting and thought provoking conversations, in fact. If all of the members of Christ Church were like you -- or like other friends of mine who work at NSA or like most of the other members of Christ Church that I’ve met -- perhaps there wouldn’t be a problem. But problems remain.
One problem, and one issue that I have with you in particular -- not that it makes me dislike you, mind you -- is that you continue to play the 'bigot' card. You did it above in your response to Nick's post when you spoke of the "history of animosity and prejudice toward Christ Church, Doug Wilson and NSA." I’ve voiced many concerns, none of which have ever been addressed by you directly, so the suggestion that they are based on prejudice is careless and offensive. Not that I dislike you for it, mind you.
You did it again in your public response to the boarding house issue when you wrote about “zoning regulations being used against the College by those with anti-religious and ideological motives.” Yet up to this point you have failed to answer one simple question: How on earth am I going to know whether or not a house that I buy is parked next to some boarding house unless boarding houses are required to apply for conditional use permits? This is a serious and honest question -- one that suggests that there was more behind the issue than mere prejudice. Thus far you have ignored it and I challenge you to respond to it now.
This theme was continued during the election when both Pastor Wilson and the “Christ Church member” who “hoisted a pre-election protest sign” called Linda Paul, Tom Lamar and Aaron Ament ‘bigots.’ Let me pause for a moment to note that two of these people are dear friends of mine and if they are bigots, then everyone is a bigot. They are among the most decent and wonderful people that I know. I have never had the privilege to meet Linda Paul but the suggestion that she is a bigot is especially absurd. I won’t repeat her résumé but currently 6 million Jews remain rolling in their graves because of that sign.
You said, in your original letter above, that Tom’s discussion with Wilson ended "without inflammatory rhetoric or name-calling" but in point of fact at the very end Tom asked Wilson if he thought that Tom was a bigot and Wilson said "Yes." Wilson continued to call Tom a bigot after the discussion ended and would do so again should the need arise. You didn’t note this in your essay but that is name-calling taken to the extreme. Do you deny this? Do you think that Wilson’s charge of bigotry is not name-calling?
The history of NSA is another issue where you continue to play the ‘bigot’ card. Let me cut to the chase and ask these questions: Didn’t NSA originally exist in a residential area? Didn’t it move to another downtown business district prior to its current location? Weren’t zoning complaints filed in each case? Didn’t NSA have ample reason to believe that its current location was in violation of zoning laws and the comprehensive plan? Did you, Roy, have reason to believe, prior to locating NSA in its current location, that by doing so it would be in violation of zoning laws and the comprehensive plan? If you did not think that its current location was in violation of zoning laws, why?
There are a lot of explicit questions above and if you REALLY want civility, I ask that you take the time to answer them with Christian sincerity.
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Joe Campbell